Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is great to see Senator Pauline O'Reilly in the position of Deputy Leader today, so I say, "Well done".

The circumstances that are developing in Northern Ireland warrant an urgent debate in the House next week. We recall when Sinn Féin pulled down the Northern Ireland Executive over the cash-for-ash scandal, which created a wave of unexpected consequences. This time, if the Democratic Unionist Party, DUP, pulls down the Executive, it will be far more complex, with many more challenges, and it will create considerable instability on the island of Ireland. The issue definitely warrants a debate in this House in the presence of the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

I welcome the announcement in recent days that the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Peter Burke, will reform the planning laws to make it more straightforward and easier for people who wish to build houses to get planning permission to do so. There is a housing crisis in this country, yet the planning system is tied up in knots. It is time to unwind those knots, make planning straightforward and easy, and bring it into international best practice in order that houses can be built in the appropriate way and on appropriate sites. It will mean people will not have to wait years to get planning permission to build houses. The only way in which we will resolve the housing crisis is by providing houses. We need to ensure every instrument will be made available, as easily as possible, to those who are prepared to build them.